


Dreaming (or) Reality

by neonkorok



Category: The Legend of Zelda & Related Fandoms
Genre: Angst, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Dissociation, Dreams vs. Reality, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, I’m so sorry, Linked Universe (Legend of Zelda), Nightmares, Panic Attacks, and now he can’t find it!, enjoy, false sense of reality, he just wants his brother to be happy ;-;, he left his sense of reality back on koholint, hyrule is a sweet boy, legend is a sad boy, more like no sense of reality
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-16
Updated: 2019-12-16
Packaged: 2021-02-24 16:00:00
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,736
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21820576
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/neonkorok/pseuds/neonkorok
Summary: It was just a nightmare. Just a dream. Something conjured up by his subconscious as he rested. But he’s awake now, and everything is fine.Or is he?
Relationships: Hyrule & Legend (Linked Universe)
Comments: 25
Kudos: 197





	Dreaming (or) Reality

**Author's Note:**

> Choo choo! Here comes the angst train, making another stop at Legend and Hyrule Station. Big surprise, but my downfall boys are the main focus of this one.
> 
> As always, be mindful of the tags. This one gets a bit heavy, especially on the mental side of things, so be careful if that’s something you may not be able to handle.
> 
> That said, I hope you enjoy!

Legend’s eyes snapped open, his chest rising and falling heavily as he tried to catch his breath. He felt cold, both internally and externally, and he couldn’t tell whether it was from the chill of the night or something else. He sighed and let his eyes slip shut as he finally realized what had just happened.

He’d had a nightmare.

On its own, that wasn’t especially a cause for concern. All of the Links had nightmares relatively frequently. It was really nothing special. This nightmare, though, had been unlike any Legend had ever had before. It felt so real, and he wasn’t sure it was even just a dream.

Then again, at the moment, he wasn’t sure if anything around him was _real,_ either.

It was the middle of the night as far as he could tell, the stars twinkling brightly up above the small clearing in the woods where they’d set up camp the night before. He could hear the fire crackling behind him and the sounds of seven other souls sleeping. Wild hummed lightly from somewhere near the fire, keeping himself entertained as he kept watch. Legend shivered.

He squeezed his eyes shut and covered his ears, trying to block everything out. He couldn’t handle so much noise right now, though he wasn’t quite sure the silence would be much better. He didn’t know what would help, if anything would, so he attempted to retreat into himself as much as he possible.

Then he felt a touch.

Legend would have been ashamed to admit that he nearly screamed at the feeling of a hand being placed gently on his shoulder, or that he _did_ jump away from it in shock. He spun around with wild eyes to see Hyrule looking at him with concern, Wild watching them both warily from across the fire. He’d stopped humming.

They all just looked at each other for a moment, Legend frozen in fear and surprise and the other two just confused. Legend noticed his breathing becoming more shallow as the seconds ticked by.

“Hey.” Hyrule said quietly, drawing Legend’s attention. “It’s okay, Legend. Everything is okay. You’re safe.”

Legend took a shuddering breath, then shook his head slowly, backing away slightly on his hands and knees.

“No? No, you don’t feel safe or no, everything isn’t okay?” Hyrule asked. Legend merely shrugged in response, his eyes flicking over to Wild for a moment before turning to the ground. Wild was still staring at him.

Hyrule turned over his shoulder and looked at Wild, then pursed his lips for a moment.

“Do you want to go somewhere else?” Hyrule asked, turning back to Legend. “I don’t want to leave you alone right now, but we don’t need to stay by everyone else.”

Legend hesitated for a moment, then nodded. He’d prefer to just be by himself, but he supposed this was the next best thing.

Hyrule nodded back, then stood up and held out a hand for Legend. He took it and stood up quickly, pulling his hand away and tucking his arms around his body as soon as he was steady on his feet. He spared Wild one last glance, seeing he’d turned around to face the other direction, then followed after Hyrule.

They walked in silence between the trees, their path illuminated by Legend’s lantern that Hyrule had somehow acquired before they left. The trees and underbrush swayed slightly in the wind, and Legend tried to ignore the slight smell of salt carried by the breeze. He stumbled slightly on the uneven ground, the earth almost feeling as though it was shifting beneath him, but he refused to look down to watch his step. There shouldn’t be sand here, there _shouldn’t be,_ but a small part of him was terrified that there was, so he didn’t look.

A flash of pink out of the corner of his eye forced Legend’s vision over, but it was just one of those radishes that popped up all over the place here. He took a deep breath. Everything was fine. Everything was okay. He was in Wild’s time, walking through some woods with Hyrule.

Or was he?

He stopped in his tracks at the thought, unable to breathe for a moment. He frantically looked around, taking in the dark, unfamiliar trees, the muddy ground (not sand, see? He had nothing to worry about there), the unfamiliar plants and insects, Hyrule’s slowly retreating form. None of it was familiar. Before this journey started, he’d never seen any of these things before. _None of it._ And while his surroundings were unfamiliar, the feeling they gave him wasn’t.

A whimper escaped from his throat, and he saw Hyrule turn around through blurry eyes. When had he started to cry? He couldn’t remember. _Why couldn’t he remember?_

Something between a sob and a cry left him next as he slowly lowered himself to the ground, his hands finding their way into his hair and pulling hard. He felt something wrap around one of his hands and pulled back frantically, shuffling backwards and kicking out in front of him to ward off whatever had touched him. He heard a grunt and the sound of something falling to the ground, but he could barely see what it was through his tears. That was fine. He didn’t trust his sight right now, anyway.

His hands returned to their pulling as more pitiful noises escaped him. He hunched over his knees, breathing hard, only to realize that he could barely breathe at all. No matter how many times he tried to breathe in, his lungs never seemed to fill. He wondered for a crazed moment if he was drowning, despite being completely dry. It wouldn’t be the first time he nearly drowned without realizing it.

Something wrapped around his wrists, and he fought against the hold as much as he could, kicking and screaming and gnashing his teeth, but the vise remained strong. No matter how much he struggled, the hands (or at least what felt like hands) remained like handcuffs around his arms. Eventually, he stopped his struggles, going limp.

Whatever had a hold of him slowly drew him forward, then surprised him by letting go of his wrists to wrap around his back. His breathing hitched for a moment before he realized he was being hugged. This was a hug. Why was he being hugged?

He slowly raised his own arms to wrap around the back of whoever was holding him, then turned to bury his head in their shoulder. They were rubbing his back and making gentle shushing noises, occasionally saying words he couldn’t bring himself to decipher. He hated how safe it made him feel.

A few long minutes later, he pulled his head back just enough to look around. He was sitting on the dirt in the middle of a small cluster of trees, his lantern tipped on its side a few feet away and illuminating a small circle of the forest. Fluffy hair took up most of his left field of vision, which he slowly realized was Hyrule’s. Hyrule was hugging him. That made a lot more sense.

“You back with me?” Hyrule asked, slowly pulling away enough that they could make eye contact.

Legend just stared at him for a few moments before Hyrule laughed softly.

“I guess that’s a ‘no.’ That’s alright.” He slowly shifted so he was sitting beside Legend rather than in front of him, his arm still wrapped around Legend’s back. Legend’s own arms had fallen back to his sides, but he rested his head on Hyrule’s shoulder when he finally settled down.

“Can you tell me four things you can see?” Hyrule asked softly. “Take your time with it.”

Legend took a few deep breaths, trying to muster up enough focus to answer.

“I see my lantern.” he finally croaked out. Hyrule rubbed his back encouragingly.

“What else?” he asked.

“Um…” Legend looked around, taking in their little spot in the woods. “A radish. Grass. Trees.”

Hyrule nodded. “Do you know what kind of trees these are?”

Legend examined the closest tree, a thin white one with black spots.

“No.” he mumbled.

“They’re birch trees.” Hyrule told him. “That’s my favorite kind of tree.”

“I like magnolias.” Legend offered.

“Why’s that?” Hyrule asked.

Legend shrugged, leaning further into Hyrule’s side.

“Pretty flowers.” he said eventually. “And good for climbing.”

“I didn’t take you as one for climbing trees.” Hyrule said.

Legend shrugged. “My uncle used to take me with him into the forest when he’d chop down trees for firewood, in the winter. I’d get bored and climb up the trees.”

“You know, now that you say that, I can totally see you doing that.” Hyrule said, laughing lightly. Legend’s lips curled up ever so slightly at the sound.

“Do you like climbing trees?” Legend asked.

“Oh, absolutely. Especially oak trees. They’re by far the best trees for climbing.”

“Not birch trees?”

Hyrule snorted, making Legend flinch slightly.

“Look at these trees. They’re practically sticks growing out of the ground.” Hyrule shook his head. “No, birch trees are not good for climbing.”

Legend nodded. They fell back into silence for a few minutes before Hyrule finally sighed and shifted slightly.

“So what was all that about?” he asked softly.

Legend tensed. “All what?” he asked, feigning ignorance.

“Legend, you basically just had a mental breakdown.” Hyrule said, unimpressed, as he began to rub Legend’s back again. “If you don’t want to talk about it with me, that’s fine, but you should at least let someone know what you’re going through.”

Legend pulled away with a sigh, pulling his legs up to wrap his arms around them. Hyrule’s hand stayed on his back, rubbing small circles. A weak, childish part of him hoped he wouldn’t stop.

“I just had a nightmare.” Legend said.

“Just a nightmare?” Hyrule asked. “No offense, but that behavior doesn’t exactly seem like something that would come from ‘just a nightmare.’”

Legend closed his eyes and buried his face between his knees. Hyrule waited patiently, still rubbing soothing circles.

A few minutes later, Legend sighed and moved to rest his cheek on his arms, looking away from Hyrule.

“In my dream…” he started, then drifted off, not quite knowing how to explain.

“Take your time.” Hyrule encouraged. “We can talk about this later if you’re not ready now.”

“No, I…” Legend sighed. “No, you’re right. I can’t just keep it all bottled up making myself crazy.”

“You’re not crazy, Legend.”

Legend laughed without humor.

“I’m not so sure about that.” he said dryly.

He picked at a blade of grass as he tried to get his thoughts together.

“It started off as a dream I’d had many times before.” he began. “I was on a beach. There was a girl there, the most beautiful girl I’d ever seen. Her singing voice is the best thing I’ve ever heard…”

He trailed off, then sighed.

“That sounds like a nice dream.” Hyrule said.

“That’s what makes it so bad.” Legend turned his head to look towards Hyrule. “It’s all just a dream. I wake up _every damn time_ and still none of it is real.”

“Still?” Hyrule asks.

Legend sniffled. “One of my adventures…I got washed up on an island named Koholint. The girl, she’s the one who found me on the shore. She brought me to her house, and when I woke up, she was the first face I saw. I had to leave to save the island from this sleeping deity, the Wind Fish, but I kept running into her around the island. She helped me out a lot. I…I think I fell in love with her.”

He wiped a few stray tears from his cheeks before he continued.

“She…When I finally had everything I needed to wake up the Wind Fish, I had to leave her behind. I didn’t want her to get hurt, you know? I thought…I thought, when I woke up the Wind Fish, that maybe I’d settle down there on the island. Aside from the sleeping deity, the island was relatively peaceful. I thought it might be a nice break from everything. But, of course, that wasn’t meant to be.” Legend fell silent again, focusing on keeping in his tears.

“What happened?” Hyrule asked after a few minutes of silence.

“I woke up the Wind Fish.” Legend said weakly. “And it turned out the whole island, everyone I’d met there, was all just a dream. The Wind Fish had made it all up in his head. Including her.”

“Oh, Legend—” Hyrule started, but Legend cut him off.

“I don’t need your pity.” he snapped, finally meeting Hyrule’s eyes to glare at him. “Besides, that’s not even what the nightmare was about. I don’t know why I told you all of that.”

“Hey, don’t do that.” Hyrule chastised.

“Do what?” Legend sat back to cross his arms over his chest.

“You clearly needed to get that all off your chest.” Hyrule said. “Don’t berate yourself for needing to confide in someone. I’m more than willing to listen if you ever need to talk about anything.”

Legend sighed, slumping down and looking away again.

“You said that’s not what your nightmare was about.” Hyrule said, showing Legend some mercy and dropping the topic. “Wanna tell me what it _was_ about?”

Legend sniffled, wishing he’d just stop crying already. It was giving him a headache.

“The nightmare started off like one I’ve had more times than I can count.” he finally said. “I was on Koholint’s beach, and Ma—the girl was with me, singing. I turned to look at the ocean, and she giggled. When I turned back around to look at her, see what was so funny, she was gone.

“Usually, after that, everything around me sort of dissolves until I’m left in the ocean, nothing but the shipwreck that stranded me on the island left behind. But this time, that didn’t happen. The beach was still there, and the rest of the island that I could see from where I was. Only the girl had disappeared.

“I left the beach after that, walking up towards the town. There were always usually these two boys playing by the entrance to the town, throwing a ball to each other, but they weren’t there when I passed through. I kept walking until I reached the forest, and there was nobody else in town, either.”

“Sounds lonely.” Hyrule interjected.

“I guess.” Legend shrugged. “I barely even noticed it at the time. I was just focused on going into the forest. I made it there, then I walked for a while until I came upon a clearing where all of us had set up camp.”

“‘Us’ as in…” Hyrule trailed off, waiting for Legend to fill in the blank.

“You, me, Wild, Sky…all nine of us. We had a fire going, and Wild was cooking something that smelled really good over the fire. Everyone else was talking to someone when I got there, so I just sat down by the fire to watch Wild cook. He was roasting some kind of bird, which is weird because Sky doesn’t eat birds, and I somehow knew that it was a seagull.”

“Why would you roast a seagull?” Hyrule asked, scrunching his nose up.

Legend sighed. “I don’t know. Dreams don’t really like to make sense.

“Anyway, so I watched him cook the seagull, and then suddenly everyone just stopped talking. I looked up and I saw that everyone was looking at me, just staring. It was really creepy, so I obviously asked what was going on.”

He took a deep breath.

“Then, um…Then Time stood up, and he walked over to me. And he said, ‘Stop kidding yourself, Legend. This isn’t real. It never was.’ And I believed him. I looked around at the camp, at everyone just…staring at me, and I knew it was all fake. It was all just in someone’s head, but I also knew it wasn’t me who’d thought them up.

“So I asked Time, if I never woke up whoever was creating this dream, if I could stay here forever. If I could make it real by never letting it go.”

“Legend…” Hyrule started, but Legend kept going before he could say anything else.

“He told me to stop being a dumbass. People were being hurt, and, like always, I had to protect them from harm. ‘It’s the spirit of the Hero,’ he said. ‘You can’t let innocent people get hurt, no matter how much you want this little fantasy to last. You know that.’

“And I did. As much as I didn’t want to admit it, I knew. I never could just leave someone hanging when they were in danger.

“Then you all stood up, still staring at me. There was…There was _nothing_ in your eyes. They were just…empty. It was like you weren’t even real people, which I guess was kind of the point.”

Hyrule shuffled forward to press himself against Legend’s side, and he was too tired to fight the contact.

“Then I left. I climbed up the mountain to the egg that the Wind Fish was asleep in, and I played the song that would wake him up. I looked down, and you were all standing right below me. I watched as you—” His breath hitched, but he forced himself to keep going. “I watched as you all faded away, still just staring at me with empty eyes. I watched as you all died.”

He laughed, slightly hysterical. “But you were never real in the first place, so did it really even count as death?”

Hyrule reached up to wipe a tear from Legend’s cheek, only to watch it be replaced moments later.

“I’m real, Legend.” Hyrule assured him. “I’m real, and you’re real, and everything around us is real.”

“You can’t know that.” Legend said, his voice breaking. “All of this, this whole journey, it could all just be another sick dream.”

“No.” Hyrule said firmly. “Legend, look at me.”

Legend’s gaze remained stubbornly fixated on the ground.

“Legend, please.” Hyrule said, so softly that Legend couldn’t hold himself back. He met Hyrule’s eyes, trying to see him clearly through his tears.

Hyrule reached out a hand and cupped Legend’s face with it. His other arm was still rubbing those circles on his back.

“Legend, do you trust me?” Hyrule asked. Legend choked on a sob.

“Of course I do.” he said, his voice barely a whisper.

“Then trust me when I say that _this is real.”_ Hyrule said, his gaze unwavering as he looked Legend dead in the eye. Legend searched his eyes for any hint of uncertainty or deceit, but he found nothing. He couldn’t hold back another sob.

“I’m really here.” Hyrule said. “Wild and Twilight and Warriors and Wind and Sky and Time and Four, they’re all real, too, even if you can’t see them right now. And you’re real, too.

“This forest? It’s real. Can you feel the dirt underneath you?”

Legend ran his hand along the ground, feeling the damp earth with his fingers. He nodded.

“Can you feel me touching you?”

Legend nodded again.

“What about sound? Can you hear the crickets chirping, the wind blowing through the trees?”

Legend nodded, letting out a cry.

“Can you see me? Can you see your lantern over there?”

Legend just kept nodding and crying.

Hyrule pulled him forward into another hug, and this time he didn’t hesitate to return it.

“I’m real.” Hyrule repeated. “I don’t know if you believe me right now, but I’ll say it as much as you need me to. I’m real. This place is real. Everything here is all real. You have nothing to worry about.”

Legend nodded one last time, burrowing his face into the crook of Hyrule’s neck.

“I love you, Legend.” Hyrule said softly.

“I love you, too.” Legend choked out. Hyrule gave him a gentle squeeze, then fell silent.

They sat there for what felt like hours while Legend drained himself of tears he didn’t know he still had left to cry. By the time he was finally done, he was exhausted, his eyes burned, his head was pounding, and he just wanted to go to sleep.

“Are you ready to go back now?” Hyrule asked when Legend finally pulled away.

“Yeah.” he said, his voice hoarse. “Yeah, let’s go.”

They stood up, Hyrule finally picking the lantern up from where it had fallen. He walked back over to Legend and took his hand, giving it a gentle squeeze. Legend returned the action with a soft, fragile smile.

It only took them a few minutes to get back to camp. Warriors looked up from where he was poking around with the fire and gave them a lopsided smile.

“Rough night?” he asked, his features softening as he took in Legend’s surely horrible appearance. Legend carefully avoided his eyes.

“Yeah.” was Hyrule’s only response.

“You’ve still got about an hour until sunrise.” Warriors said as Hyrule led Legend over to their bedrolls. “Might do you some good to catch a bit more rest.”

“Thanks.” Hyrule said with a small smile. Warriors nodded, then turned away to keep an eye on the dark woods surrounding them.

Legend laid down on his bedroll, twisting around so he was facing the camp. He watched Hyrule drag his bedroll a bit closer until he disappeared from view behind Legend. A warm arm wrapped around his stomach a few moments later.

“Goodnight, Legend.” Hyrule said. “I love you.”

“You too.” Legend said.

He heard Hyrule drift off to sleep behind him, but his own eyes remained open, watching the dimly lit camp. Everyone but himself and Warriors was asleep, seemingly peaceful in their dreams. He hoped it stayed that way.

A few minutes passed, and Warriors met his gaze. He gave Legend a soft smile and winked before looking away. Legend huffed.

He finally closed his eyes as the light of the sun began to peek over the horizon, softly illuminating the trees. He felt Hyrule’s weight against his back and listened to the soft sounds of the others breathing.

 _This is real,_ he told himself as he slowly drifted off into the world of sleep.

 _This is real,_ he told himself, but he still didn’t quite believe it.

**Author's Note:**

> Why do i keep hurting my favorite boys ;-;
> 
> This fic has been sitting in my drafts for well over a month now, and I finally decided that now is the time to post it! Gotta love some angst, even if it’s one of the only two genres of fic I ever seem to write.
> 
> If you liked it, please let me know! Your comments and kudos mean the world to me, but even just seeing that people have read something I put so much love and effort into brings a smile to my face.


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